What comes after
by DarthRuby
Summary: L was killed fighting Kira. Matt was killed for the one he loved. Both now exist in a strange place between life and death, each reflecting on their choices and awaiting the one that led them there. LxLight, MelloxMatt SHONEN-AI. (Multi-chapter fic btw)
1. Swirling white mist

**Inspired by that scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.**

* * *

So many battles, so many tricks and traps, so many lies and truths and victories and defeats had brought him here. Thousands of people had tried, and failed to bring him to this place. Finally, inevitably some might say, one had succeeded. The Great Detective L had been beaten for the first time. Oddball Ryuzaki had been tricked by the one he thought a friend. L Lawliet was dead.

He lay on a vast expanse of white nothingness, eyes closed, his final moments playing over and over behind his eyelids. The last face he saw, Yagami Light. _Kira_. His greatest enemy, yet his dearest friend. His only friend. The only one, besides Watari, that L had ever been close to. The only one he had ever truly loved. Most certainly not the only one to betray him. Yet somehow it was his betrayal that hurt the most.

L Lawliet slowly opened his eyes and stood up, shoulders hunched.

Swirling mists and creamy white light. Whispering echoes of half-forgotten words and the smell of freshly cut grass. A strange sense of...peace? His former life; his successors, the Kira investigation, _Light_... seemed far off and vague. A heavy weight had lifted from his shoulders. He was dead. There was nothing more that he could do. Near and Mello would finish the investigation. He had complete confidence in them, they wouldn't let him down. Finally, he was free.

Now what?

_Light...you can't hide forever. Soon, my successors will catch you. The second you slip up, make a mistake, justice shall at last prevail. Then, maybe you will die. Maybe you'll come here. I will not move on. I will wait here. I will find a way to show you that you were wrong. _

A lot of maybes, L knew, but that was all he had left now.

* * *

**A/N: My first published fanfiction, please review and criticize to your heart's content! I'll update this about once a month until I decide to wrap up the story... This was beta-ed (?) by one of my best real-world friends, who steadfastly refuses to tell me her FF.N username. I'll tell you once I've found it. Without her, this story would be even more terrible than it already is! FUTURE CHAPTERS WILL BE LONGER I PROMISE! **


	2. Another new arrival

**Hey! Sososo sorry I took so long to upload, you can blame my teachers.****_ No one_**** should have this much homework...**

**L: So what you are saying, Ruby, is that the best excuse you can think of is homework? You are the one who decides my ultimate fate in this story?**

**Light: And you didn't even put a disclaimer in that first chapter...**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Death Note, things would NOT have gone the way they did. But I don't, so they didn't. **

**Enjoy!**

Somehow, the afterlife didn't quite match up to L's expectations of it. He had been expecting something a little more…impressive? Overwhelming? Busy?

Not this.

All around him was the white mist he had seen when he first opened his eyes, but in front of him an archway had appeared. Mesmerising lights were visible through it, but not much else. Occasionally, another soul would join him. Not seeming to notice L, they would walk through the archway, their bodies merging with the otherworldly glow. Sometimes their faces betrayed a state of rapture, as (L was 87% sure) they entered Heaven, or perhaps a new life. Sometimes L saw fear, and could only assume that the soul had entered Punishment or somewhere similarly unpleasant. He wouldn't know for sure. Not yet, anyway. He wasn't planning on finding out anytime soon.

Sometime later, L couldn't say how long, a familiar face appeared; red hair, red and white striped top, goggles, white sleeveless jacket. A look of surprise on his face as he opened his eyes. Mail Jeevas. Matt.

Like the others, Matt didn't notice the dark-haired detective. The redhead merely walked unflinchingly towards the archway…

And stopped.

**There you go! Now, I'm a new author, and I need advice to help me improve so...**

**L: What she wants to say is that she wants you to comment.**

**Thanks, L.**


	3. Some cigarettes and a worn DS

**MY COMPUTER BROKE. **

**I have no more excuses. I don't own Death Note. Not that that has to do with anything. This one is as yet un-beta-ed, but previous chapters were beta-ed by the brilliant murderedunicorn.**

**Enjoy!**

Mello. That was Matt's first thought when he opened his eyes in the in-between. Mello. The reason he was here. The man he had died for. The blood and bullet holes were noticeably absent from the tattered garments he had been wearing upon his death, and he was pleased to find some cigarettes, a lighter and a DS still in the pockets. Perfect. He switched on the worn console, sitting back on the strange, unseen "grass". The doorway was open in front of him, bright lights beckoning, but Matt wouldn't be tempted.

Mello, he hoped, wouldn't die anytime soon.

So he could be stuck here for a while.

There was no way in hell he would move on without Mello.

**Comment to tell me how I can improve! More chapters on the way!**


End file.
